My Annoying Doorbell

The people who lived in my house before me had a doorbell installed. Every time someone rings it will play a different tune, and I hate it with a passion. It is probably the most annoying doorbell ever invented. It isn't so bad the first few times you hear someone ring it. But after a while it can really get on your nerves. And I have heard my doorbell ring many times.

The family next door to me has five children. Two of the youngest are a brother and sister named Ashleigh and Cory. Around July they started come over to my house every once a while to sell something for their school. These days they come by a couple of times a week to give me a flower or to say hello. But I think that they come over for much more than that.

Living next door to their house has allowed me to learn a lot about their home life. For instance I know that Ashleigh and Cory's parents yell and scream at them a lot (especially their father). And the words that they use are not the best for young children to be hearing either. Mom is at home with the kids but dad is gone most of the day. And there is a little baby in the family that takes up a lot of their mothers time. So in a lot of ways they get neglected.

Last Wednesday I was working on a video presentation that I would share with a church that night. This presentation was giving me a lot of trouble so I wasn't in a talking mood. Unfortunately Ashleigh and Cory were. They rang my doorbell repeatedly to give me flowers and tell me jokes. At first I put up with it, but then told them that I was busy. They continued to ring so I decided to ignore them. This just resulted in the doorbell being rung over and over.

The day before Ashleigh and Cory had cleaned some things out of my front yard. They asked if I would let them clean some more. Happy to get them out of my hair for a few minutes I agreed. But it wasn't ten minutes later that they started ringing the doorbell again. There is a patch of weeds in my front yard that needed to be pulled. They wanted to pull those weeds for me, but I didn't want them to do it alone. I promised to help them as soon as I ate my lunch.

A minute after I had put my hamburgers on the grill the doorbell rang again. At this point I was really getting frustrated. I had specifically told them not to ring the doorbell until I was done with my lunch! When I opened the door they pleaded with me to help pull weeds before eating my lunch. In that moment I realized that weren't looking for weeds to pull. They were looking for someone who would pay attention to them.

In a few minutes I had turned off the grill and changed my clothes. Then we spent about half an hour pulling all of the weeds out of my front yard. Later I let them inside my house and got them something to drink (they had never been in my house before). And when the job was done I took them for a ride in my car to the local grocery store, and bought some ice cream. It took about forty five minutes to do all of that, but the impact it made upon Ashleigh and Cory was immeasurable.

I still don't like my doorbell. And I am thankful that the kids next door don't ring it constantly every day. But my experience this week reminded me of how many children, teenagers, and adults desire someone to just pay attention to them.